We take a look back at the 2008 season for the Atlanta Braves as Chipper Jones chased a .400 season well into the middle of the summer.
Today, Friday, April 24, is the birthday of one of the greatest to ever put on an Atlanta Braves uniform in Chipper Jones.
The Hall of Famer spent his entire career in Atlanta and is quite possibly the most popular player in the franchise’s history.
As we reflect on the greatness of Chipper Jones today, I wanted to tell you about one of my fondest memories from his career.
To be quite honest, I was not aware of the Hall of Fame player that Chipper was early in his career. Maybe it’s because so much of the focus was on the pitching staff, but it wasn’t until late in his career that I recognized how great Chipper Jones actually was.
And as I wrote about yesterday, Andruw Jones is my guy.
It probably wasn’t until the 2006 or 2007 season that I realized we have a Hall of Fame player on our hands. And, of course, those weren’t the best years for the Braves.
I grew up in the 90s thinking this team would just make the postseason every year. Once that started not to happen I’d be lying if I told ou my interest didn’t taper off a bit.
But that 2008 season is one I’ll never forget.
Hitting .400 in a season is likely something we’ll never see again in the game of baseball, especially with the way the game is played today.
I was still a little young to remember Tony Gwynn‘s run at .400 in 1994 when he finished the season at .394. He was really the last player to come close to hitting .400.
Only seven players in the 2000s have hit .360 or higher in a season (Barry Bonds did it twice, but you know…).
And let’s get something straight, Chipper really didn’t finish all that close to .400 with a .365 average, but this is more about the journey, which is what a baseball season is all about.
It was the journey that Chipper took us on in 2008 that I’ll remember the most.
At the time I was in college at Auburn University working almost every night at a local BBQ restaurant.
Lucky for me, the manager at night was a huge Braves and would always have the game one.
What I loved most about that summer is that every time Chipper came to the plate he manager would run to the back where I was washing dishes and tell me to come watch.
I’m not sure that I’ve ever been caught up in something like that before where you had to stop what you were doing and just watch whenever a player came to the plate.
The closest feeling I can associate that with was the 1998 season with Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, but that season is obviously a little tainted now.
And, obviously, it’s that way with Mike Trout today. Every time he steps on the field it’s must-see TV.
But Chipper kept us glued to the TV all summer watching him chase a number that we all knew was unattainable.
However, the summer kept going and Chipper kept hitting. After April he was hitting .410.
After an 0-for-4 day on May 10 his average sat right at .400 and you thought maybe this was where things ended. But then he picked up NINE hits in his next four games and raised his average back up to .418.
I’m telling you, I had never seen anything like this.
At the end of May he was hitting .413 and that’s when people started to think, “could he really do this.”
It had been so long since we’d really seen anyone come close to touching .400 that I think a lot of people just got caught up in the moment even though it had only been two months.
His average remained in the .400s until June 20 when it finally dropped to .394. For two straight months he maintained an average of .400 or better — truly remarkable.
But the hunt didn’t quite finish there. Chipper stayed in the .390s into July and we still remained glued to the TV for every at-bat just hoping he could get back up there.
It wasn’t to be, but Chipper still managed to win the batting title in his age 36 season.
I have a lot of great memories of Chipper Jones. I was there for his last regular-season home game and cried with everyone else.
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But what I’ll remember most about Chipper is that 2008 season. Let us know your favorite memories of Chipper Jones in the comments below.